World Trade Center
by Eric Neo Matrix
Summary: A Sonic tribute to the tenth anniversary of 9/11/2001, the day that changed history. Also a dedication to all those who were affected on that day.


This was just an idea that I had in the wake of the tenth anniversary of 9/11. I wanted to do something themed on 9/11, so I came up with this quick oneshot. Note that this story is meant to be historical fiction.

This is my dedication of sorts to the brave souls who lost their lives that day. And yes, I remember that day myself vividly, even though it was ten years ago. I remember that I didn't find out until I got home from school; I must've been in the second grade at the time.

I don't own Sonic and friends.

...

**World Trade Center**

Sonic the Hedgehog sprinted with all his speed down the clogged highways and roads of New York City, heading towards the gigantic plume of smoke in the center of the downtown area. Police and firefighters clogged the roads, making it difficult even for Sonic to make his way there. The foul, smoke-filled air made him choke and gag, but as always, he just kept running.

Suddenly, as he made his way to within a few blocks of the disaster area, he saw his little brother Miles "Tails" Prower in the mech form of his X-Tornado, with Chris Thorndyke, a human that Sonic had befriended, in the back seat. The mech was standing on the edge of a foggy expanse of dust and debris.

Twisted steel girders. Flames chewing away at the surroundings. Ash hanging in the air like a noxious cloud threatening to suffocate any. And as Sonic clutched the sides of his head, with his blue quills digging deeply into his skin, he could only manage to murmur one word, "_God_"

Sonic slowly stepped forward. He didn't want to, but he did. At first glance, he wanted would like to run as far away from the sight as he could, but he did not. He couldn't, because he knew that there were people who needed him.

As Sonic came up to Tails's flank, he noticed that the fox turned and stared. Sonic could literally see the horror and sadness in the eyes of both of his friends.

The cockpit of the mech opened up quickly.

"Sonic!"

As it turns out, Sonic and his friends were not the only ones there.

In the enormous pile of rubble that just was the World Trade Center not too long before, a group of what Sonic recognized as Eggman robots were picking their way through the wastes.

The echidna that Sonic recognized as Knuckles was also there, using his impressive strength to dig, with Eggman bots supporting him without hesitation. Finally, Sonic noticed his old rival Shadow the Hedgehog carrying the victims to the dozens of ambulences wailing around. Piles of charred shoes and clothes were scattered everywhere, but no people.

Vector the Crocodile, the leader of the Chaotix, attempted to lift the concrete with his own strength, but he couldn't. He struggled, and he heaved, when finally, Charmy Bee came forward to help him. And for once he was not buzzing. For once, he had no laughter in his eyes. Sonic could even see the Babylon Rogues flying overhead, lifting twisted metal girders away from the scene.

Dr. Robotnik himself was standing off to the side, simply staring at the spectacle in complete silence.

"Oh my god..." Sonic heard his nemesis muttering to himself.

"Eggman?" Sonic asked.

"Sonic! You finally got here." The doctor smiled.

"Eggman, what the hell have you done?" Sonic angrily yelled.

"Nothing, Sonic. Nothing at all. I am here because I wish to save the people who became victims of this horrible crime."

Sonic's expression softened. "What?"

"He's not lying, Sonic." Tails, interestingly, sided with Sonic's archenemy.

"Tails? But..." Sonic began.

"Hey, Sonic! Get over here and help!" The voice of Knuckles yelled to the hedgehog.

Frightened New Yorkers who happened to be nearby stared upon the sight in horror and shock, like this was some kind of twisted dream. And indeed, it did seem like one, even to Sonic.

Sonic looked towards Robotnik, and saw a fat, glistening tear roll down the machinist's cheek.

And that's when he suddenly realized that this was beyond rivalries, and it was beyond enemies. It was something that awakened a voice in even the blackest of hearts, a voice that screamed _This is not right_.

"Excuse me, are you Sonic the Hedgehog?" A young female voice came from behind.

Sonic turned around, and he was met by the sight of what looked like a young woman, probably in her twenties, wearing a ceremonial hijab scarf around her head.

"Sorry that I didn't introduce myself. I am Shamala, and I'm trying to find my brother. Could you please help me find him?" The girl requested desperately.

"Ummm... Sure." Sonic and Shamala ran to the pile, with Tails in his mech close behind.

"Tails! I need you to dig up some of this concrete."

"No problem." Tails, with the powerful arms of the X-Tornado mech, sweeped away the debris, until Shamala spotted an arm poking out of the garbage.

"Over here! Help me pull him out!" Shamala begged, and the two quickly managed to pull the man out.

Unfortunately, the young Muslim woman did not expect what she saw next; it was her brother, all right, but she could barely recognize him, because his face had been skinned clean off, along with his hair and most of his clothes. His arms and legs were also in a wacky position, for they had been pulverized. The only way that she knew it was him was because of the small necklace around his neck that was miraculously undamaged.

"NO!" She exclaimed as she held the corpse of her kin in her arms and began loudly crying. Sonic simply froze, not knowing what to say to the girl, as she began praying hysterically in Arabic. However, the young woman then turned to Sonic and glomped him tightly, crying into Sonic's chest fur.

"... Don't look." Sonic quietly comforted the girl.

A single Eggman robot stepped in front of the doctor with a news camera in hand and began filming the scene.

And from the side, Chris wept for those who were not already weeping. He wept for the children too young to understand, like Cream and Cheese. He wept for innocent people like Shamala who had lost what was most dear to them. He wept for those still asleep all over the world, and He wept for those who were sacrificing themselves.

He wept for the planet. He wept for the land of the free, and he wept for the home of the brave. He wept for all humanity.

And he could do nothing more.

...

Meanwhile, at Chris's house, Amy, Vanilla, Cream, Ella, Mr. Tanaka, and the Thorndykes were gathered closely around their TV in a seeming trance, not believing that what they were seeing was real.

Over and over again, the video footage played; two giant airliners flying into the Twin Towers, exploding into giant balls of fire and unleashing a cloud of smoke from the doomed skyscrapers, whcih quickly collapsed and flattened numerous other buildings around them.

Ella was loudly crying in Mr. Tanaka's arms as the breaking news report blared.

Suddenly, the camera switched to an overhead view of the ruins, focusing on none other than Sonic and his friends that had heard about the disaster and arrived. Even more surprising to them was the sight of Eggman's robots helping Sonic and friends with search-and-rescue.

_"World-renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog and infamous mad scientist Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik are on the scene helping with the rescue of the dead and wounded."_

At that point, the camera footage turned to a closeup of Robotnik's ugly mug.

_"This is easily the most horrific attack I have ever seen in my life. Now, I'm sure many may find that statement ironic since I am an evil genius, but this tragedy shatters my heart, for it has no real motivation other than senseless slaughter."_

He pointed behind him, and the camera focused on the still-weeping Shamala kneeling over her brother with Sonic nearby scanning the rubble for any sign of life.

_"Who could have done such a thing, I do not know, but what I do know is that once we find the culprits of this atrocity, I will fully support any and all attempts to bring those responsible to justice."_

Suddenly, Tails, inside his X Tornado with Chris, stepped into the background.

_"And we will, too!" _Tails courageously declared.

Suddenly, Rouge flew in next to Knuckles, helping him dig through the ruins. She was closely followed by Silver the Hedgehog, who telekinetically lifted thick blocks of concrete off of the many mangled bodies. The bodies that were found were being layed out.

Amy tore away and began punching a pillow, sobbing loudly. "Who did this? I'll kill them myself! I'll fly Tails's plane into one of THEIR buildings, and see how they like it!"

"We can't, Amy." Vanilla calmly began, "There is more good than evil in the world. Every war has innocents. We must _never_ do what they did to us. If we do as they do, the war against them is lost already."

The pink hedgehog knew that Cream's mother couldn't be more correct.

...

"We now take you live to the White House press room."

The video switched to that of a middle-aged, slightly-overweight man taking the podium.

"My fellow Americans... Today, a horrible tragedy has rent our hearts... At 8:46 am and 9:03 am this morning, two commericial airliners collided with the World Trade Center in New York City, causing both buildings to collapse..."

On Earth the leaders of the world watched the map being covered in red with terror. In some of them a vain hope of self-preservation was the only thing that mattered, to the others vengeance, but nevertheless, they all prepared to launch a deadly volley at the perpetrators.

...

Sonic found himself standing among a pile of debris, with flames, weariness, and death all around. The figures of all of his old friends and rivals scurried around him trying to do what they could.

Then he looked down, and noticed something lying underneath some blocks of concrete; a band of red and white stripes. It was the Stars and Stripes, and although shredded and partially burnt, it was intact.

Everyone - even Sonic and his friends - were wounded by this attack, wounded nearly to the point of giving up hope, but they were one. Suddenly, Sonic's heart swelled with pride, and he picked the up the tattered flag from the ground. He placed it upright in a rubble pile, watching it sway in the hot burning wind.

Sonic smiled, put his right hand to his breast and began;

_"O say! can you see... By the dawn's early light..."_

...

When you leave a review, I encourage everyone to say what they were doing and where they were when they heard the news of the barbaric attacks.

As my fellow Anonymous would say; "NEVAR FORGET!"


End file.
